My first speech in Swahili... painful

This last week I was lucky enough to be invited to speak at TechnoServe's first Innovation Clinic in Ndaragua, Kenya. For some stupid reason, I decided to give the speech in Swahili. Watch through until the end:



TechnoServe is a brilliant NGO, (one of the very few in Kenya) with a fantastic track record of using business principles to fight poverty. I went with TechnoServe's Annah Marcharia to the Nyala Dairy plant. TechnoServe organized and now advising the chilling plant, a 100% farmer owned cooperative, which provides a much higher income for over 6,000 farmers (and this is one of a dozen plants, with more expansion coming). As part of their continued business advising, TechnoServe brought together the 400 most innovative and leading farmers near their plant for some presentations. More videos coming soon, but here's another 30 sec clip.



Really, really great organization and a great day. Can't wait until the next one.

Nairobi's New Tech Innovation Hub: iHub

I'm am so excited to be in Nairobi right now. Just launching is the first (I think) of what will be many start-up/business/entrepreneurship related hubs in Nairobi. Get ready for a new generation of high-class start-ups Kenya.

Introduced on Erik Hersman's blog, White African:

"iHub...It’s an open space for the technologists, investors, tech companies and hackers in the area. This space is a tech community facility with a focus on young entrepreneurs, web and mobile phone programmers and designers. It is part open community workspace (co-working), part investor and VC hub and part incubator."

YES! The combination of a physical location, advising, investor attention and network is a recipe we've seen work. Hundreds of fantastic start-ups have emerged from similar projects in Silicon Valley, Boston, New York,  Boulder, etc. Namely Y Cominator and TechStars come to mind. Keep your eyes on iHub; I predict some big successes by the end of the year.

Interestingly, the location is totally free to any coder in Nairobi. "...our only requirement is that you are indeed involved in the tech space as a programmer, web designer or mobile application developer." We'll see how that plays out over the next few months.

Check out the full post here.

And stay tuned for something along these lines coming up in the Social Enterprise space...

Christmas in Jinja, Uganda

What an amazing Christmas this year! I saw Uganda, rafted down the nile and made a few good friends. Also I peed in the Nile and ipso facto (sp?), peed in the Mediterranean. hehe.




Also, MONKEYS!










And one last quick one from my bus trip to Uganda...

My Terrible Haircut

Me: "Are you sure you can cut Mzungu hair?"

Shady Barber in Kisumu: "Yes, yes, yes!"

TheSanDiegoSurf.com - The Most Amazing SD photos

Today I discovered a recently launched project called The San Diego Surf. You can find it, naturally, at TheSanDiegoSurf.com. 

Here's a photo from this morning's post by Stephen Eaton.

Each day these dudes take amazing photos from some beach in SD and post it with some tips about the surf. If you live or have ever lived in or near San Diego, you will love this site. Subscribe by rss or by email and enjoy!

Interesting/weird things in Nairobi

Quick clip from an email to my friend Moriah:

"I'm doing really well here. I'm traveling all over western Kenya for work and I'm going to Uganda next week for Christmas with some friends. I'm feeling pretty well settled in when I'm in Nairobi. I have an apartment, some friends, getting to know my way around. I'm learning swahili!

Random interesting thoughts... The nicest mall I've ever been to (ever) is about 1 mile from my house. I have no mailing address, my address is: the far end of school lane, with the green gate on the left. Men sometimes hold hands here for minutes. The girls here are super beautiful, and the weather is even better (70 degrees everyday). Chipatis and Ugali are amazing, but it's almost impossible to get not-fried food at a restaurant. In swahili the word for tomato is the same as grandmother. But I forget what it is right now. I bought a bike to ride around Nairobi and people laugh at me because only "maids and cooks" ride bikes in nairobi. Plan for Christmas: rafting down the nile. No joke. I'm super amped."

Pics coming soon...

My First Week in Kenya

Thanks for allowing me to be massively narcissistic. First week here is going great!



I live in the little pink building next to the big pink building in the middle of this map. Sorry, no street view for Nairobi yet.

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Also, my cell phone in Kenya still works. 303.900.2121. Call me or text me anytime!